Montanes knocks off Monfils for Nice title

Nice, France (Sports Network) - Albert Montanes dominated early and captured
the Nice Open title with a straight-set win over French crowd favorite Gael
Monfils.

Montanes won the first seven games of the match and finished off a 6-0, 7-6
(7-3) triumph for his sixth career ATP World Tour title and first since July
2010, when he also beat Monfils in the Stuttgart final.

Monfils, who fell to 4-14 all-time in title matches, struggled from the start.
After Montanes won the first four games, rain briefly interrupted the match,
but it didn't affect the Spaniard, who went on to win the final two games in a
28-minute first set.

Montanes broke serve for a 3-1 lead in the second set, but Monfils did not go
quietly. He broke back in the seventh game and eventually forced a tiebreak,
which Montanes quickly won to improve to 4-1 lifetime against the Frenchman.

Monfils, who battled a right knee injury last year and missed the last three
Grand Slam events in 2012, hasn't won a tournament since October 2011 in
Stockholm.

The 26-year-old Monfils, a top-10 player in 2011, heads to the French Open
next week with some momentum. He had failed to advance past the second round
in any of his seven events since January until this week and had fallen to No.
109 in the world.

A tough first-round opponent in fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych awaits Monfils at
Roland Garros, where he has had success. He had his best-ever Grand Slam
finish at the 2008 French with a run to the semifinals and twice after reached
the quarterfinals.

Montanes, who also beat Monfils in the first round at Monte Carlo earlier this
spring, picked up a first prize of $95,000 Saturday. He was a first-round
loser in the French Open last year after reaching the fourth round in 2011 and
will meet Steve Johnson in the first round next week.